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With just four hits in 23 at-bats and one home run so far, Jose Bautista has clearly been not himself at the plate, though nobody is terribly concerned.

“He’s struggling to find his timing,” said manager John Farrell. “We’ve all become accustomed to just watching Jose hit balls into the seats, but there were times last year and the year before when he goes through stretches where his timing is off and that’s kind of where he is right now.”

What has been evident is that others have stepped in and delivered some key hits. The Jays have only hit four home runs in six games, the same number they hit in the first game of 2011. But they’ve had more players doing more things to make the offence effective.

“We have that potential,” said Farrell. “We’re starting to get more guys involved in the overall offence. We’re not anywhere close to where I think we’ll be, but we’re showing signs of getting there.”

Glove Man

Was it really less than a year ago when people in the baseball community were wondering if Brett Lawrie was such a poor defender that the Jays were going to have a tough time finding him a position?

With less than 50 major-league games under his belt, Lawrie may have already established himself as the best defensive third baseman in the American League. Certainly he has the most range.

“The range that he has there is so far above average that he can cover almost that entire 5-6 (third-short) hole,” said Farrell.

Last year, San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval led the majors in a little-known stat called “defensive runs saved.” Sandoval was credited with 22 runs saved in 905 innings at third base. In just 43 games (380 innings), Lawrie was credited with 14 runs saved, putting him on pace to breeze past Sandoval.

Roster Move Pending

With Sergio Santos in California for the birth of his third child with wife Kristen, the Jays are likely to make a roster move today under baseball’s inaptly named (at least in this case) bereavement clause to replace the relief pitcher on the team roster for the next couple of games.